An Investigation of a Roll Control Suspension Hydraulic Actuation System

It is recognised that roll control suspensions offer a partial solution to the well known compromise between ride and handling. In this paper a simulation and experimental study of a vehicle with a roll control hydraulic actuation system is presented in which a variety of ways to reduce power consumption and cost are investigated. The introduction of dead-band into the control system can reduce power consumption while a proportional valve with a spool configuration ■which interconnects the load and tank ports when in the null position is shown to improve ride comfort and raise the system damping during conditions when the vehicle is subjected to aerodynamic lateral side loads. In the prototype vehicle it is argued that the system pressure could be reduced to levels similar to those of existing power steering systems, if the actuation system control gains are chosen appropriately.